New Delhi: Six separatist loyalists were escorted out of the National Press Club in Washington DC, US on Thursday, after they disrupted a panel discussion on Kashmir.
According to news agency PTI, the panel discussion was titled 'Kashmir: From Turmoil to Transformation' and was moderated by columnist Se Hoon Kim. The president of the Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party, Mir Junaid, addressed it with Touseef Raina, president of the Municipal Council of Baramulla.
In a video shared by ANI, the separatist loyalists are seen heckling as they were being removed from the area.
"The whole audience has seen your real face today. What we have seen in Kashmir, we saw in Washington today, and thank you for showing the world how cruel, and indecent these people are. You have seen it all,” Junaid said as the separatist sympathisers were taken out of the room.
The disruption began while Junaid was responding to a question on the reasons why the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders were in jail.
As per PTI, Junaid managed to answer and say that they were in jail because of “their hate speech and war crimes”.
ALSO READ | Mere Membership Of Banned Outfit Makes A Person Criminal, Liable To Be Prosecuted Under UAPA: SC
"They (Hurriyat leaders) are in jail because of their mistakes. They misled the people of Jammu Kashmir for their vested interests and gains. They spoiled our ecosystem of education. They were the spoilers of our economy. They were glorifying terrorism. They are in jail for their hate speech. They are in jail for their war crimes,” he said.
Raina referred to the disruption caused by the protestors earlier and said that all these years this is what the separatists sponsored by Pakistan have been doing in Jammu and Kashmir.
"What these gentlemen did, the same thing they did in Kashmir. Whosoever was speaking, right, or for the people, was silenced by the gun,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
"I wish I get a chance to visit Pakistan. I want to meet the policymakers to stop funding terrorism,” Raina said.